Two recent studies have reportedly examined the impact of location on the accessibility and quality of healthy food. Manuel Franco, et al., “Availability of Health Foods and Dietary Patterns: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2009. Manuel Franco, et al., “Neighborhood Characteristics and Availability of Healthy Foods in Baltimore,” American Journal of Preventative Medicine, December 2008. Researchers with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the University of Texas, and the University of Michigan apparently found that approximately 46 percent of lower-income neighborhoods in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, Maryland, had a low availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, skim milk, and whole wheat bread. The studies relied on information gleaned from 759 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) and a systematic survey of 159 neighborhoods and 226 neighborhood stores in the Baltimore area. “Previous studies have suggested that race and income are…
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The district court judge to whom this obesity-related litigation was reassigned in 2008 has dismissed motions to compel filed by plaintiffs and defendants, but has given the parties leave to renew after the court rules on motions for class certification. Pelman v. McDonald’s Corp., No. 02-7821 (S.D.N.Y., filed Sept. 30, 2002). Judge Robert Sweet recused himself from the proceedings following the pre-trial conference, held April 9, 2008, and the matter was reassigned to Judge Sidney Stein in May. The plaintiffs, a putative class of obese and overweight teens, alleged that the fast-food company misled them with deceptive ads. They are seeking damages for obesity-related health problems. Information about the lawsuit has periodically appeared in this Update since it was filed in 2002. It has been appealed twice to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, its issues have been narrowed, and it has been followed closely by consumer advocates and the food…
A recent study has claimed that processed and fast foods containing phosphorus may constitute a “hidden” danger to people seeking to limit their intake of the substance, which can cause heart disease, bone disease and death in patients with advanced renal disease. Catherine Sullivan, et al., “Effect of Food Additives on Hyperphosphatemia Among Patients With End-stage Renal Disease,” Journal of the American Medical Association, February 11, 2009. Phosphorus occurs naturally in meats, dairy products, whole grains, and nuts, but food manufacturers also use sodium phosphate and pyrophosphate to enhance the shelf life and flavor of some products. Researchers from the MetroHealth Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine followed 279 dialysis patients with advanced kidney disease and high blood phosphorus levels exceeding 5.5 milligrams per deciliter. Those in a control group received standard dietary instructions, while the intervention group also avoided additive-containing foods purchased in grocery stores and…
A California woman who claimed that Wendy’s International, Inc. violated state consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the trans fat content of its French fries and fried chicken products has entered a settlement agreement with the fast-food company. Yoo v. Wendy’s Int’l, Inc., No. 07-4515 (C.D. Cal., settlement filed December 2008). For purposes of the settlement, the parties agreed to the certification of a nationwide class of those who purchased Wendy’s fries and chicken for the past two years. Without conceding any liability, Wendy’s agreed to (i) eliminate trans fat from its frying process, (ii) submit to independent testing, (iii) donate $1.8 million to cancer, diabetes and heart associations, and (iv) not oppose a fee award of up to $1.09 million to class counsel in the Yoo action. Attorneys representing class claimants in similar litigation filed in New York and Florida will share the fee distribution. Wendy’s also agreed to attribute the $2.2…
A researcher at a Swedish medical university, Karolinska Institutet, has studied the effect of a high fat, sugar and cholesterol diet on the brains of mice. Susanne Akterin’s doctoral thesis, “From Cholesterol to Oxidative Stress in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Wide Perspective on a Multifactorial Disease,” shows that mice fed a diet equivalent to the nutritional content of most fast food developed brain abnormalities similar to those seen in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. While she finds the results promising by suggesting how Alzheimer’s could be prevented, Akterin also noted that “more research in this field needs to be done before proper advice can be passed on to the general public.” Epidemiological studies have apparently shown that high cholesterol levels and lack of antioxidants may render people more susceptible to the development of the disease, so Akterin designed her research to find a mechanism that could explain these findings.
Researchers at the University of Hawaii have tested 160 fast-food products purchased from outlets throughout the United States and reportedly found that “not 1 item could be traced back to a noncorn source.” A. Hope Jahren & Rebecca A. Kraft, “Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopes in Fast Food: Signatures of Corn and Confinement,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, November 18, 2008. According to the researchers, “Ingredients matter for many reasons: U.S. corn agriculture has been criticized as environmentally unsustainable and conspicuously subsidized.” Sampling the ratios of different isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the meat and chicken samples tested, the researchers were able to determine what the animals were fed and the level of fertilizer used on the feed crops. They also found that higher levels of nitrogen isotope in the meat, from the ammonia emitted in their manure, could be linked to meat coming from animals raised in confined conditions.
According to the president for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a nonprofit vegan group founded in 1985, recent, unpublicized studies have suggested that “cheese, chocolate, sugar, and meat all spark the release of opiate-like substances that trigger the brain’s pleasure center and seduce us into eating them again and again.” Neal Bernard also discusses research showing (i) “participants moving to a vegetarian diet have a harder time giving up cheese than almost any other food”; (ii) “the principal protein in cheese, casein, breaks apart during digestion to produce abundant amounts of morphine-like compounds called casomorphins”; and (iii) naxolone, an opiate blocker used to treat morphine and heroin overdoses, reduces the desire for chocolate, sugar, cheese, and meat suggesting that their attraction does indeed come from druglike effects caused within the brain.” Bernard asserts that “just as Big Tobacco intentionally manipulated the addictive qualities of its products, Big Food…
New York attorney Samuel Hirsch has filed lawsuits against fast food companies on behalf of two classes of plaintiffs who are allegedly obese and have developed diabetes, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol intake, and other adverse health effects from consuming defendants’ products. Barber v. McDonald’s Corp., No. 23145/2002 (N.Y., Super. Ct., filed July 24, 2002); Pelman v. McDonald’s Corp., No. 24809/2002 (N.Y. Super. Ct., filed August 22, 2002). The cases involve a class of adult plaintiffs and a class of children. The complaints are being brought on theories of (i) unfair and deceptive practices, (ii) failure to warn, and (iii) negligence in selling products high in fat, salt, sugar, and cholesterol, and in marketing to children, in marketing addictive products, and in enticing plaintiffs to consume larger portions in “value meals” and “meal combos.” According to news sources, the named adult plaintiff, Caesar Barber, 56, did not realize that consumption…
